Dot Hack: Virus Buster
by Char0079
Summary: An Alternate Universe fic. Tai is a normal player on the World. Or is he? After a few strange encounters Tai and his friends must search for the truth behind some strange events... **CHAPTER 5 Is Up! Ch. 6 expected up: Sat. Feb 16th**
1. FILE 0

.hack//Virus Buster  
  
FILE 00: Prologue  
  
The sky grew to a dark red color. Black lines began forming where clouds had once been. A bird flew in the sky; it was surrounded by a red aura and shattered into thousands of small pieces.  
  
"T-The data! It is being corrupted! I gotta get out of here!" Someone shouted. The logged off of The World. A few more people logged out as well.  
  
Tai ran in between the crowds of people logging off of The World. He saw Molly up ahead, at the edge of the city. She was running into the city from the outer rim of the fields. She was being followed by the source of the corruption.  
  
"Molly!" Tai shouted, "Hurry!"  
  
"Is she your friend?" Said someone from behind Tai. Tai looked back. The user was clad in silver armor; he had a large sword in his hand. He had a strange emblem on his chest armor.  
  
"Yes she is. Are y-you an Administrator?"  
  
The man nodded, "She'd better hurry. Once she gets here I want both of you to log off together. Everyone else is already logged off, and I've closed the server so nobody else can log into this city."  
  
"So that means you can't stop it?"  
  
"I do not know. There is this file I have. But that is too risky."  
  
"What file?"  
  
"A vaccine..." Molly entered the city and ran into Tai's arms. She was tired.  
  
"T-the monster followed me!" She said, trying to breath.  
  
"Get here out of here!" The administrator said.  
  
"But you said there is no way to defeat! That means you need to close the server and leave. Trap the virus in the city and save yourself! Once you are safe you can vaccinate the city."  
  
"No. That is impossible. What level are you?" The administrator said.  
  
"About 20. Why?"  
  
"Take this. If I fail use it." The administrator gave Tai a large book. It had a strange emblem on the front of it. "It is a vaccine. If I get destroyed use it and save yourself."  
  
Tai took the book and nodded. The source of the corruption was a large black dragon-like monster. It entered the city. Were it touched the ground, it became rotted. The buildings it came near were surrounded by a red aura and lifted a few feet in the air and shattered into pieces.  
  
The administrator shouted back to Tai as he charged towards the dragon and into the twilight, "If the administrators ask, you got that back from Magnum. They know me..."  
  
"What?!" Tai lost his breath, "That-that was Magnum. He can't get destroyed, if he does he won't be an administrator anymore, he will become a regular user...no! The data will corrupt his mind he could actually die!"  
  
"That's it!" Shouted Molly, "The comas are being caused by the corrupted viruses!"  
  
"Your right. But now is not the time to talk, go! Get out of here!"  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"I have a promise to keep."  
  
Molly ran back to the gate and logged out. Then Tai heard it, the sound of destruction. He looked back at the dragon, Magnum was gone.  
  
"No! It can't be! This things power must be unlimited..."  
  
Tai opened the book. His armor began to glow, and it turned to a dark blue color. He watched as his sword took a black color. "This isn't a vaccine! It is a virus! What could he be thinking? Now I have every attribute of a no good virus. Wait...could that mean he wants to fight a virus with a virus? It is worth a try..."  
  
Tai raised his hand. It began to glow white as a blue mass formed in the palm. It launched at the dragon, which had by now destroyed half of the city. It struck the head. A large white flash filled the air. Tai couldn't see anything...just white.  
  
Then he could see again. He hadn't moved. The sky was now blue again, with white clouds. But then he looked down. Half of the city was gone. Were there had been land once, was now nothing but a large hole in the ground. A big, bottomless hole...  
  
That was one month ago... 


	2. FILE 1

.hack//Virus Buster  
  
FILE 01: Trial  
  
"Would Mr. Barret approach the stand."  
  
Tai walked down the aisle between the hundreds of people. The fans on the ceiling were moving so slow, just as time seemed to be moving to Tai. He was 15 years old, and on trial for a crime he didn't mean to do.  
  
Tai was about six feet tall. He had his black hair combed forward, and he had contacts in his black eyes. He wore a white shirt and black tie, with khaki pants. He approached the judge and the jury. This courtroom seemed so large, especially when standing in front of the huge judge's desk.  
  
"Mr. Barret, you have been sentenced to a terrible crime. The jury has made their decision. Mr. Barret, is it not true that you were logged onto the famous game 'The World' with a smaller, not as powerful, copy of Pluto's Kiss?"  
  
Tai nodded. It was true. The file given to him by Magnum was a smaller copy of Pluto's Kiss. It worked on a much smaller scale, but could always live up to the full potential of its predecessor...  
  
"Mr. Barret, is it not true that you corrupted on entire server of 'The World'?"  
  
Tai nodded again. This was also true. Though only half of the city was destroyed, it ended up corrupting the entire server, causing it to have to be deleted by its creators.  
  
"Mr. Barret, is there anything you wish to say to the Jury before I tell you their decision?"  
  
"Yes," Tai said sternly, "Magnum did give me the file. He was destroyed by the dragon, not the virus. I only used the virus because Magnum told me so...  
  
"This is unacceptable!" The judge said furiously, "An administrator would not infect his own game! Therefore, the jury has decided that Tai Barret is guilty!"  
  
"Wait!" Shouted someone from the back of the room. A young woman stood up and approached the Judge, holding a CD Case in here hand. "The boy is not lying."  
  
"How are you?" The Judge asked, everyone in the crowd watching was whispering.  
  
"I am Sara Tetsui. I am one of the ten head administrators of 'The World'."  
  
"Hm? Aren't the administrator's the ones charging the boy of the crime?"  
  
"Yes, but due to a disk I recently found, I disagree with this entire thing. I believe this boy. We originally charged him with having a copy of Pluto's Kiss, and also throwing the administrator known as 'Magnum' into a coma. However, after this boy destroyed the virus, I found that all of the viruses that had once plagued all of The World's servers had disappeared. And this disk shows why."  
  
She approached a TV which had been used earlier for evidence against Tai. She put the CD into the CD Tray and ran the program. The screen was full of static but cleared up to show Ken Tetsui, or Magnum, one of the head administrators. He was sitting at a desk. He looked at the camera and began to speak.  
  
"My dear Sara, my wife. What I am about to tell you may sound shocking, but it is absolutely true. By the time you've found this then I am probably in a coma. I know what is causing the comas among some of the players. Let me explain. A few nights ago I came across a copy of Pluto's Kiss inside one of the servers I was inspecting. I then managed to isolate the file so it wouldn't affect the servers. It wasn't a full copy, so it could easily be isolated. I spent all night looking at the file. I found that it grew each time it corrupted something in The World. It would've probably grown to the full version and wiped out the entire Global Network again. Then, the next night I found that it was corrupting player's computers and throwing them into comas! I was going to bring this to everyone, but I found that it was too late to stop. If you are seeing this then it means I failed and was infected by the virus like everyone else."  
  
He paused and moved out of view, and then back, "However, I would never use the virus until absolutely necessary. My plan is to give the isolated version of the virus to a player and have him stay with me. I will then do all I can to try and stop the virus's corruption, if I fail I will have the player use the isolated version of the virus against the actual virus. I just hope you find this before you blame him as the one who started the virus again. I love you, Sara."  
  
The video ended, and went to static. Everyone in the courtroom was amazed. Even he jury. The jury talked awhile, and the crowd just whispered. Tai still stood before the judge, next to Sara Tetsui, who smiled at him and said, "It will be okay. Don't worry."  
  
The judge then spoke, "Mr. Tai Barret! After the recent evidence, the jury has decided to remove the sentence! You are innocent. And it appears you are a hero...I guess, to the players in 'The World'."  
  
A few people chuckled, and Sara looked at him said, "It appears so. Tai, you will have access to the world once again. But...not to your old account, it was sort of deleted."  
  
"That's okay, I am just glad not to be going to jail..." 


	3. FILE 2

.hack//Virus Buster  
  
FILE 02: Return to The World  
  
It had been a few days now since the trial had ended, and life was just getting back to normal. Tai's mom had already had a bunch of talks with him about how she distrusts 'The World' and doesn't want Tai to play again. But Tai must go back, he spends most of his time there and it's the one place where he can do whatever he wants...  
  
"Hm," He said, "Let's see if I have any mail."  
  
Tai booted his computer up. It was nice to be back at a computer, seeing as he was banned from all Web access during his trial. He still couldn't get over how quickly CC Corporation dropped all of the charges. Magnum must have been quite a hero to all of them.  
  
"Ah!" He screamed, "Too much mail! Oh man, I should've had someone like Molly check it for me so I wouldn't have to sift through so much mail!"  
  
He saw most of it was junk mail, so he deleted those. Other mail was announcements, which he read. He noticed that most of the mail came in the past few days, from players who now thought of Tai as some sort of hero, those ones he moved to a folder to read later. "Oh, man. I hope that I don't get swarmed when I log back on. These newbies are so annoying."  
  
Some of the mail was from Molly, which he read. There was also mail from administrators saying how much they were sorry for everything. Then Tai noticed one from Sara Tetsui, one of the head administrators, and the one who helped him at the trial. He read through it quickly:  
  
"Hello Tai. This is Sara, and I have some good news for you. After everything that happened and you are now allowed to log back on I want to help you out. When the trial started we deleted your character. Your account is there, but with no character and has been banned. But I lifted the ban and have something for you. I went through our records and compiled a character just for you; he has the exact appearance, stats, items, and everything that you had when you were banned. You should now have that character with the same name, which is Tai (BTW. How come you and your friend use your real names? ^^). So good luck back in the world. Oh yeah, if you get a chance come down to the Administration Building in Tristan City on the Gamma Server. See you there. -Sara Tetsui"  
  
"Well, that's good. Time to log on."  
  
Tai accessed the long on page and entered all of the information. It then told him to put on the visor, he did so. It was black for a second but then the screen lit up and Tai saw a blue portal thing in front of him, he stepped in.  
  
"Which Server?" A voice said.  
  
"Gamma Server, the City of Tristan"  
  
"Very Well." The voice said.  
  
Tai was transported to the city. When he got there he was standing by the gate. He looked down; everything was the same as before. He had the same weapons, items, and even the same health he had left with...it was pretty cool.  
  
He walked down some steps into the city. The city of Tristan was a bustling city full of shops and people trading. It was one of the biggest trading cities in The World. He walked through the streets. Hundreds of characters carried on not noticing Tai. He stopped a random wave master and asked, "Excuse which way to the Administration Building?"  
  
"Sorry, I got to go. My party needs these scrolls!" The wave master ran off.  
  
"Damnit! I don't even know what an administration building is." Tai said to himself.  
  
"It is new," A voice said from behind him, "You wouldn't know. You've been gone too long."  
  
Tai turned around to see a familiar female wave master.  
  
"Molly! It is so good to see you!" Tai shouted walking towards here.  
  
She jumped towards him and just hugged him, "It's nice to see you too. I am just glad to see you back."  
  
"Well, I see you've been training," Tai said. Stepping back and looking at Molly. She now had stronger armor and weapons.  
  
"Yes, and I see they gave you your old character back."  
  
"Yes," Tai said, "But could you show me where the administration building is? I need to meet Sara there for something." He said looking around.  
  
"It is right over there. At the center of the city," She said pointing north, "Right next to the Evac Gate."  
  
"Evac Gate?" Tai said confused.  
  
"Oh yeah, you haven't been here in awhile. Sorry. It is a gate like the one back there at the entrance. Except, this one is bigger and is sealed away in case of an emergency, like with what happened with the dragon. And only admins can open it up for the public to use."  
  
"Ok," Tai said, "But what about the administration building?  
  
"It was set up for the admins to overlook the city and run everything from there. People also go there to report problems, and check on bounties."  
  
"Bounties?"  
  
"It is a new system in The World. Now there are a bunch of new Event NPCs around The World. These Bountyheads, as they are called, have a mind of their own. They try to attack players and steal from them. They are only in higher leveled servers. If you go to the admin building and check for bounties, they can give you a list of bountyheads in this server. If you encounter a bountyhead then you can fight it. If you beat it, it becomes a small white orb. You take the orb back to the admin buildings and exchange it for money. It is a pretty neat system."  
  
"Ok, I see. Thanks. Maybe we can catch up later?" Tai said.  
  
"Yeah, I got to go right now. Bye." She said, with a wave as she walked back towards the gate.  
  
Tai walked down to the Administration Building. It was a large classical building. It looked sort of like an old Greek building. He looked to his left. There was the 'Evac Gate'. It was a large gold ring, with a blue portal thing in it, like the other one. It was boxed into a large red-semi transparent cube. That must be what the admins take down when they use the gate.  
  
Tai walked into the admin building. He saw someone walk over to the desk that said 'Bounties' and hand them a white orb. They handed him money.  
  
"Wow, that is a pretty neat system." Tai said to himself.  
  
Tai approached the front desk, "I am here for Sara Tetsui." He said.  
  
"Hm?" The admin said. He was a Heavy Axe type, "you mean Mai? That's here character name. Is she expecting you?"  
  
"Yes." Tai said.  
  
"Character name?"  
  
"Tai."  
  
The admin looked up. He smiled, "Ah yes, congratulations on your victory. Were sorry about the whole trial thing. Go right in. She is expecting you."  
  
Tai smiled, "Thank you."  
  
He walked back towards a large door. He stepped in. Sara, or Mai as she is called in the game, sat at a large desk. She was a Long Arm. She had silver chest armor and leg armor. Her lance was sitting against the wall in the corner. She had long blue hair and blue eyes. She was quite beautiful.  
  
"Ah, Tai come in and sit down." She said wave him to come closer.  
  
Tai walked forward. Tai was a Heavy Blade, and his sword was hanging from his back. It clanged against his blue armor. He sat down and brushed some of his black, spikey hair from his eyes.  
  
"I won't keep you. I know you are eager to play the game. So let's get to the point. I want you to have these. It is the same type of armor and sword that Magnum had. I have to leave soon, so I can't talk much. I have to go to the hospital and see him.  
  
"How is he doing?" Tai said sadly.  
  
"Better. He has actually awoken from the coma a few times, but only lasted a few minutes. We are hoping for the best."  
  
"Me too."  
  
"I am sorry to rush you out," She said standing up and grabbing her lance, "But I must go. Please take that armor and sword, I am sure Magnum would want you to have it."  
  
"Thank you. I will keep it close."  
  
Tai walked out of the admin building. The sun was setting on the city. He had put the large silver armor on. It fit perfectly and was very strong. This sword was much longer and wider than his normal sword. "Now this," Tai said smiling, "Is why I wanted to become a Heavy Blade." He said putting the sword in its holder on his back.  
  
He headed back to the gate and logged out. He was tired and wanted to sleep. He would meet Molly tomorrow... 


	4. FILE 3

.hack.//Virus Buster  
  
FILE 03: Rivals?  
  
"Molly!" Shouted Tai. He raised his sword above his head. It was heavy, but he needed to finish this monster off. "Look out!"  
  
He swung the sword in and downward arc. It struck the large tiger in the side. It growled in pain and fell to the ground and disappeared. Tai put his sword away and Molly approached him.  
  
She looked angry, "You know you didn't have to finish him like that! He had minimal HP left! Tai, you are so full of yourself."  
  
"I know," Tai said laughing, "But I love this new sword and armor."  
  
"Yes, they are nice, but we have a Zeit Statue to loot."  
  
"Molly," He said to the girl, "We don't loot the Zeit Statues, we just take the treasure."  
  
"Right, that is looting..." She said turning and walking through the dungeon's next door.  
  
Tai sighed and laughed. Tai was a Heavy Blade. His character had spiky black hair and black eyes. His character was about six feet and two inches tall. The armor that Mai had given him fit perfectly, and was an unmarked silver color. The sword had a blade about six inches wide, and four feet long. It hung from his back when it wasn't in use.  
  
Tai walked through the door to meet up with Molly.  
  
Molly was a Wave Master. She was about five feet and eleven inches tall. She wore a short aqua skirt, and white socks that came up to her kneecaps. She also had an aqua shirt, with long sleeves and a hood. She always kept the hood down though. Her eyes were green and her hair blue. She had aqua stripes on her cheeks. In her hand she carried a large staff with an ornament the shape of a moon at the end.  
  
The two of them had used their real names as character names, just because they never like the idea of being called something else. They stood side by side in front of the Zeit Statue. Tai looked down at Molly, "Go ahead, you can have this one."  
  
"Thank you, Tai. You are quite the gentleman." She said approaching the statue's treasure chest.  
  
"No, I am just uber-powerful compared to you, so I want you to get the treasure because it might be a better weapon or armor." He said with a smile.  
  
"Humph!" She grunted, opening the chest.  
  
"I was just kidding." Tai said laughing.  
  
Molly gasped.  
  
"What is it?" Tai asked.  
  
"Look!" She screamed, "A Puchiguso doll! Oh! It is so cute!" She danced around.  
  
"Is that all? We went through this entire thing for a doll?"  
  
"No!" She said, putting the doll in her pack and reaching back in the chest, "There is also a bundle of Fire Scrolls, which come in handy. Oh! And you can have this, it is a Health Potion, I figure you need because you run into battle so headstrong that you'll need it when you get the crap beaten out of you!" She said giggling.  
  
"Why thank you!" He said sarcastically.  
  
The two walked out of the dungeon and into the field laughing. They were approached by a large Blade User. He had thick black armor, and a long red cape. He stood about Tai's height and had long black hair with strange red eyes. He was followed by a Wave Master and a Long Arm.  
  
"Well, well..." He said in a deep voice, "What do we have here? Someone got to the treasure before us." He hissed at them, "Well, what exactly did you get? Anything good? Because, you know if it is something good, then I will be taking it..."  
  
"What do you mean?" Tai said, "You know the rules, the one who opens he chest decides what to do with it. You can't just decide for them."  
  
"On the contrary," He said glaring at Tai, "I can do whatever I want. For you see, I am at a much higher level than you newbies are."  
  
"Newbies?" Tai laughed, "You don't know who you are talking to." Tai crossed his arms and tapped his foot, "Now can we pass?"  
  
The man thrust his arm backwards, "Go right ahead."  
  
"Thank you," Tai said mockingly.  
  
Tai took a few steps forward. He heard Molly make a small squeak, and quickly turned around. The man now was holding Molly with his hand over her one arms, and his other over his mouth, "Oh darn," He said, "I was going to see how long it took you to notice. Now, what did you get from the treasure?"  
  
Tai drew his sword and pointed the tip at the man, "Let her go!" He shouted furiously.  
  
"Give me what I want." He said menacingly.  
  
"It was just a doll, some scrolls, and a potion! Now let her go!" Tai shouted. Molly struggled a bit and then bit the man's arm. He pulled his arm back, and Molly ran to Tai's side.  
  
"How dare you grab a girl like that!" She shouted. Her face grew red.  
  
"Humph." He said, brushing hair from his forehead, "I just want your treasure, and then you are free to go." He said drawing his sword.  
  
Tai grabbed his sword with both hands, "How dare you."  
  
The two swords met with sparks. Tai drew it back, and arched it downward at the man's legs. He jumped back and swung his sword at Tai's head. Tai managed to duck down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. He flung it to the ground in front of the man. A tempest of flames rose from the paper and surrounded the man. The man closed himself in, so he would not be burned.  
  
"Molly, let's go." Tai said putting his sword back. Molly ran back over the grass, Tai not far behind. They got to a small stone monument when the man appeared again. His clothes were burned, and he looked injured.  
  
"Wimp!" He shouted, swinging his sword at Tai and striking him down. Tai felt a pain in his left arm. He looked down to see it red with blood. Tai grabbed his sword now with only his right hand. He swung it at the man's head.  
  
A lance appeared from Tai's left. It struck Tai's sword, causing it to fall to the ground. Everyone looked over. Mai stood there in her silver battle armor.  
  
"Stop this at once!" She snapped, "This server is for newbies only! Duels between players are restricted to other servers!"  
  
"Hmph" The man said with a smirk, "We better be going." He said waving to his friends. They began walking away.  
  
Mai shouted to them, "Hey! Get back here, I am not through with you!"  
  
The man's friends logged off of the field, the man was about to do it as well, but turned around. He shouted back to Tai, "What's your name? Who are you? Who is the one who can fight me equally?"  
  
"Tai Barret!" He shouted back.  
  
"Very well, Tai. Kaito. Remember that name! We will meet again." The man said, logging off.  
  
Tai sat down. He clenched his arm. It was bloody.  
  
Mai looked down, "I saw the whole thing. I got here as soon as possible."  
  
"Then you know," Molly said, "That Kaito started it all?"  
  
Mai nodded, "But Tai why are you with her? You should be in a high level server. I am like her guardian; Wave Masters don't do well with weapons you know. And besides, I am just helping her level up."  
  
Molly nodded, "That's right. He was just helping me."  
  
"I see," Mai said, withdrawing her lance, "You better get that looked at." She said, logging out... 


	5. FILE 4

.hack//Virus Buster  
  
FILE 04: Starry Twilight  
  
Tai stood, leaning against the wall next to the gate. He was in Mac Anu, The Water Capital. He watched the sun slowly move towards the hills, more and more people came to the gate and logged. Tai was waiting for Molly. Once a month, Tai and Molly would log onto The World, and spend the entire night together in a special field they found on the Gemini Server. It was their hiding place from both the Real World, and the game World...  
  
Tai spent most of his time logged onto the World. There wasn't anything at his real home for him. His father was long dead, and his mother was either at work or out with her friends at some bar. So in the real World, Tai spent much of the time by himself, he had to take care of himself. However, he did have Molly.  
  
Molly lived with both of her parents in a large white house near Tai. They loved Tai as if he were a son. They knew about the problems with his mom, and who he had to take care of himself alone. So often, they wouldn't mind if Molly would invite him over for dinner or something. Also, they just thought he was a very polite boy.  
  
Tai heard someone approach him, he thought it was Molly. He opened his eyes. It was Mai, the Administrator who had helped Tai before.  
  
"Well, well," She said, "How are you today?"  
  
"I am doing well. Except..." Tai looked away from her, and at his arm.  
  
"What is it?" She asked.  
  
"My arm. How long are injuries supposed to be visible in this game?"  
  
"I don't know," She said, "Not long. Why?"  
  
"Ok, thanks. It is just that the cut is still there. Are you heading off?"  
  
"Yeah, I have to go to sleep sometime, right? By the way," She said, "I want you to have my Member Address in case anything ever comes up. Okay?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Mai walked up to the gate and logged off. Tai rolled up his sleeve. The scar was still there, but Tai noticed that it had a faint blue glow to it. This was strange, because Tai had never heard of any sort of Status Effect like this before.  
  
Molly logged on and approached Tai.  
  
"Sorry I am late," She said grinning, "I got home late."  
  
"It is okay." Tai said, rolling his sleeve down.  
  
He didn't have his bulky armor on anymore; instead he cashed it in for some special armor from an Administrator who ran a shop hidden in one of the fields. Tai had bought a light chainmail-like armor which was very strong. And over top of it, he now wore a long sleeved red shirt, with a black vest over top. His pants were now also coated in Chainmail, and they were black. He also now had some special boots. His sword was also now much thinner, but now it was even stronger. All of this armor was great for Tai.  
  
"I see you decided to get that new armor and sword." Molly said.  
  
"Yeah, it works great." He said back, "You ready?"  
  
"Anytime."  
  
The two approached the gate and teleported to some distant field.  
  
They arrived on the field next to a large barn, and a small outpost. The outpost was just where players would hang out, and the barn was the Puchiguso barn. Tai and Molly each had their own Puchigusos. Tai had a black one, with white and gray stripes. Its name was Zero. Molly had a small pink Puchiguso, which she named Hikaru.  
  
The two went to the outpost to see if anyone they knew from past visits were there. There was nobody of interest. So they two of them decided to head out to the field for the night. Every month, at least once a month, they came to this field and spent all night. They would just stay somewhere and talk, and wouldn't have a care in the world.  
  
They approached a large lake. There was a cave nearby, but they stayed along the shore. By now, they were far from the Outpost. The sun was down, and now there were many stars high in the sky. The moon shone bright down onto the lake, and reflected on the ground.  
  
The two sat there, side by side, just watching the lake. They talked of the real world, but that was to frustrating, seeing as there were many problems. So they talked about the game World. The talk mostly about past adventures, and future dreams.  
  
"Tai?" Molly finally said, after a long silence.  
  
"What is it?" Tai said, looking over at her. The moon reflected light off of her golden hair, and the stars reflected in her eyes.  
  
"You are about ten levels higher than me, right?"  
  
"Yeah. Why?"  
  
"Well, will you always be with me? To help me?" She looked down to the ground.  
  
"Of course I will. What makes you think different?" He said.  
  
"Well, I have heard that if there becomes too big of a level difference that many parties split up. I was just worried."  
  
"There is no reason to worry; I will always be with you. That's a promise."  
  
The two continued to talk for a couple of hours, until Molly fell asleep. She lay against a tree stump, quietly sleeping. Tai didn't want to wake here so he walked out into the nearby opening and sat by himself watching the stars.  
  
"I love it here," He said to himself, "Everything is perfect. I don't have to worry about a thing. I can leave all of my worries behind in my old life." Tai trailed into thought.  
  
"Perfect." He said to himself.  
  
He heard something behind him, and thinking it was Molly, turned around. There was nobody there. "Hm, better go check on Molly."  
  
"You're wrong." Tai heard a voice from behind him, "It is not perfect."  
  
Tai turned around. A cloaked figure stood there, "The World is not perfect. There are many problems. Including viruses."  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I have no name. I am but a guardian of the World."  
  
"So, you are some sort of NPC?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're a player?"  
  
"No. I am neither."  
  
"Then, what do you want with me?" Tai said, drawing his sword.  
  
"To warn you." The figure replied.  
  
"Of what?" Tai asked.  
  
"The infection."  
  
"What infection?"  
  
"A virus has been released into the system. It will soon take over The World. And only one person can stop it."  
  
"What?!" Tai shouted. He didn't understand, "I better go tell someone!"  
  
"No!" The figure snapped, "Only one person can stop the Infection. That person is you."  
  
"Me?" Tai said, "How can I stop something like that, I need to get an administrator."  
  
"Your arm. That is how you defeat it."  
  
"You can see the glow? Not even Mai or Molly could see that." Tai rolled up his sleeve. The cut was gone, but his entire arm still had a green glow.  
  
"Yes. I can see it. It is the same Infection that will take over the world."  
  
"How? How can I defeat the virus, if I have the virus? And how did Kaito give it to me?"  
  
"Kaito is a man who fell to the darkness. The one responsible for the Virus gave the power to him. In exchange, Kaito was probably promised some great power or something. He is slowly infecting everybody he meets."  
  
"Still, how can I stop a virus with a virus?" Tai asked less confused now.  
  
"I have vaccinated it. It is no longer a virus, but rather more like a Vaccine. I did this while you were logged off. I must go now." The figure said, vanishing.  
  
"Wait! Who is the one that gave Kaito the power?!" Tai looked around frantically.  
  
"I.cannot tell." The figure had left. Tai was alone again. Usually Tai wouldn't have believed something like this, but his arm had an even more powerful glow now. He didn't know what to do.  
  
Then Tai heard something from the river. It was a scream. It was Molly. 


End file.
